Remember how some time back every cable/DTH connection holder, through advertisement on television, radios and every digital platform imaginable were advertised that according to the country’s telecom regulator, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announced new regulations for the television and broadcasting sector, as per which consumers were at their choice to select only […]

Remember how some time back every cable/DTH connection holder, through advertisement on television, radios and every digital platform imaginable were advertised that according to the country’s telecom regulator, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announced new regulations for the television and broadcasting sector, as per which consumers were at their choice to select only those channels which they wished to pay for.

Unfortunately, after TRAI’s notified framework came into effect since December 29, 2018, there have been innumerable complaints registered from customers that there has come difficulties in different domains to select from this available choice of channels.

Now, TRAI has proposed a draft regulation, wherein every DTH or cable operator should create a sort of channel selection system for making the procedure simpler for customers.

The Problems Faced by Customers

In March 2017, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India notified the ‘New Regulatory Framework’ for Broadcasting and Cable services, which came into effect on December 29, 2018. As per this notification, the customers had the freedom to select the television channels of their choice and let the broadcasting company know the same.

Easier said than done, TRAI soon started receiving a plethora of complaints regarding improper execution of this rule. Despite making all efforts, time and again, it is being brought to notice of the authority that consumers are not able to make real choice of TV channels.

In these complaints, the customers mentioned that the call centres of the distribution platform operators (DPOs) also didn’t help them with choosing the desired TV channels. TRAI said it had made several attempts to resolve the large consumer grievance – users were unable to choose television channels that they wanted to see – that was highlighted by several complaints.

TRAI Comes to The Rescue

In order to address
the issue, TRAI said it felt the need to have a channel selection system
developed by a third party to facilitate easy channel selection by consumers.
This means that it will ask the third party companies to create apps, which
will help the customers to understand the whole interface better and shall more
efficiently help them in selecting their desired channel.

The cable operators along with DTH (direct-to-home) providers are together known as distribution platform operators (DPOs). Through this draft regulation, TRAI is seeking the comments of the stakeholders on the issue of developing of the application by third parties and consequent sharing of information using application programming interface between DPOs and consumers.

This means every DPO must enable customers to choose from its plethora of channels and bouquets through its own or third-party mobile app or web portal. Any third party can create an app which consumers can use, irrespective of their service provider, to choose the channels they want to watch at any time, and thus help them reduce their monthly spends on TV subscription, says the secretary of TRAI.

This draft
regulation was introduced on Friday and is held open for suggestions of the
stakeholders up to August 22, 2019.

The rains are not stopping, and its a red alert in 12 out of 14 districts in Kerala. The Kerala flood has worsened in the last seven days, and the death toll has now crossed 100 people.

The crisis is frightful, and telecom companies from around the country are lending helping hands to the victims.

Companies are offering free data and calls to help affected people to stay in touch with their family and friends. The flood crisis in Kerala has turned diabolical, and telcos at the same time are trying to restore connectivity in the flood-hit regions of the state.

Idea Offers Free Talktime & Data | Kerala Floods

Idea is offering free talktime for the users in Kerala with a credit of Rs 10 for all its prepaid subscribers. Idea users in Kerala can avail the benefit by dialing *150*150#. Also, Idea is offering free 1GB data for seven days for the affected people in Kerala.

The Kerala flood has done immense damage, and Idea has even extended due date for bill payments of its postpaid customers as well.

Also, Idea has equipped its company stores in the flood-hit areas for users to charge their devices there free of cost.

BSNL Offers Unlimited Calls For 7 Days | Kerala Floods

BSNL MD and CEO Anupam Srivastava has announced that the public telecom company will offer unlimited on-net calls for seven days straight in Kerala. The state-run company is also offering free 20 minutes of calling per day to any network in the flood hit regions.

The Kerala flood levels are still havoc, and BSNL will soon start to work on the connectivity in the flood-hit areas of the state as well.

Airtel Offers Free Public WiFi, Calls & Data | Kerala Floods

Unlike others, Airtel is offering free VSATs at relief centres to facilitate public Wi-Fi and calling services at free of cost. Bharti Airtel also has extended due dates for bill payments to ensure seamless connectivity for postpaid customers.

For Airtel prepaid customers, the company is offering 1GB free data Rs 30 free talk time in the flood-hit Kerala.

Also, in spite of the heavy rains and floods in Kerala, Airtel is making sure that its network remains intact amidst massive power disruption. You can also charge your devices at select Airtel Stores.

Reliance Jio Offers Free Calls & Data | Kerala Floods

Reliance Jio is providing Jio users in Kerala with free unlimited data and calls for 7 days. The Kerala floods have done enough damage and the government is trying hard to restore the situation as much as possible. Those impacted by the Kerala floods will get complimentary unlimited voice calls and internet from Reliance Jio.

You can access unlimited data and make calls for a week, which is valid for all the Reliance Jio users in the whole state of Kerala.

Vodafone Offers Free Talktime & Data | Kerala Floods

Vodafone is doing its bit as well to help the affected people in flood-hit Kerala. The company is offering free talk time of Rs 30 and free 1GB of mobile data to its prepaid users. Vodafone has also extended its due date to facilitate seamless connectivity for postpaid users.

The free 1GB data will be credited automatically, and for the talktime you need to send a text with CREDIT to 144 or dial *130*1#.

According to the MET office, the rains in Kerala is supposed to end in a few hours, but the still downpour continues. Telecom companies are doing their bit for those impacted by Kerala floods, and we hope things get fine soon.

Under this new ‘grade based’ penalty, fine up to Rs 10 lakh has been proposed, which is applicable per circle, per quarter.

TRAI’s New Grade Based Penalty

In order to gauge and determine the penalty of call drop, TRAI has created three new parameters for calculating call drops:

90% of the towers in a circle should not have a call drop rate of more than 2%, 90% of the time

90% of the towers in a circle should not have a call drop rate of more than 3%, 97% of the time

Records pertaining to radio link timeout (RLT) of more than 48 will have to be stored for more than 3 days, and shared with TRAI. RLD is a parameter, which is used for managing calls and as per some previous reports, some telcos are using this to mask call drops.

The Scope Of Penalty Under Grade Based System

Now, the interesting part: the penalty structure, which should certainly worry the telecom operators.

Under Parameter 1, here are the penalties applicable:

Call Drop Rate

Penalty

2-4%

Rs 1 lakh

4-6%

Rs 2 lakh

6-8%

Rs 3 lakh

8-10%

Rs 4 lakh

Above 10%

Rs 5 lakh

Under Parameter 2:

Call Drop Rate

Penalty

3-5%

Rs 1 lakh

5-7%

Rs 2 lakh

7-9%

Rs 3 lakh

9-11%

Rs 4 lakh

Above 11%

Rs 5 lakh

Now, if the violations continue for consecutive quarters, then the penalty levied would be 1.5 times that of the first quarter; and twice if the violation continues for 3rd quarter, subjected to a cap of Rs 10 lakh in a three month phase.

The reason why telcos should worry is that, the new penalty system focusses on a more granular level of observation and analytics, compared to circle-level focus which was applicable till now.

This means that the call drops would be highlighted even more, and the chances of penalty imposition would be even higher.

Will it improve quality of voice calls? Or telecom operators will oppose this new penalty system as well? Do let us know by commenting right here!

Since last 48 hours, Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) has been on an overdrive to protect consumer’s interest and rights.

While TRAI’s ‘surprise’ customer service test has been failed by all leading telecom players, TRAI Chairman has lambasted Apple for being anti-customer; something which no one has ever said to Apple.

Will these antics actually improve the condition of telecom users in India?

Telcos Fail To Meet Customer Service ‘Level’

TRAI conducted a secret, and surprise test to gauge the customer service levels of telecom companies in three circles: Delhi, Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Karnataka.

And very disappointing results have come out.

As per TRAI’s assessment, none of the telecom player managed to score passing marks, and things are going downhill.

In a statement announcing the results, TRAI said, “It has been observed that none of the service providers in the three service areas have achieved the benchmark for customer satisfaction. The level of satisfaction was around 50 per cent of the TRAI benchmark,”

Airtel’s good scores were attributed to the fact that they did some good work in addressing call-drop menace in Delhi and MP, and giving better post-paid billing information, ‘customer care service, data speed, network signal’ in Delhi-NCR.

In Delhi-NCR, Airtel scored maximum marks for Internet speed.

Reliance Jio was rated No. 1 for Internet speed in MP and Karnataka.

In MP and Karnataka, performance of Jio almost same as Vodafone, Airtel, BSNL and Idea.

Reliance Communication scored lowest in almost every circle as it failed to address issues such as customer care service, voice quality during call, overall service, mobile number portability processing, data service and network signal .

MTNL scored the least for customer service, and for providing solutions for call-drop problem.

TRAI Chairman: Apple Is Anti-Customer

Meanwhile, TRAI Chairman has launched a stinging attack on World’s most valuable company: Apple. In a scathing attack on them, R S Sharma, chairman of TRAI said, “They are anti-consumer and they are really not caring towards their customers who could have been saved from pesky calls and unwanted messages.”

The issue is regarding the special DND app launched by TRAI. While Android has allowed their users to use this app, and pass on sensitive information about unwanted calls and messages to TRAI, Apple’s IOS hasn’t yet allowed this.

Sharma said, “While Google’s Android supports our Do-Not-Disturb (DND) app, Apple has just been discussing, discussing, and discussing. They have not done anything.”

Sharma further said, “So basically you (Apple) are violating the right of the user to willingly share his/her own data with the regulator or with any third party of his/her choice.”, adding, “This is what we call data colonisation.”

In a landmark judgement, Delhi High Court has upheld TRAI’s directives on call drops, and ordered telecom firms to compensate all users for call drops. After this judgement, telecom companies would be required to pay Re 1 for every call drop, with Rs 3 being the maximum compensation which one user can claim in a […]

In a landmark judgement, Delhi High Court has upheld TRAI’s directives on call drops, and ordered telecom firms to compensate all users for call drops. After this judgement, telecom companies would be required to pay Re 1 for every call drop, with Rs 3 being the maximum compensation which one user can claim in a day.

Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath passed this order while hearing an appeal by telecom companies against TRAI’s directives related to call drops. Last October, TRAI had directed all telecom companies to compensate users for dropped calls, and telcos had approached HC against this order.

This case against TRAI’s order on dropped calls was petitioned by Cellular Operators Association of India, a body of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India and 21 telecom operators, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance.

In December, we had reported that call drops have increased by 25%, and TRAI had demanded strict action. In case any telecom company refuses to pay for the call drop, then TRAI will take strict action against them.

The bench from Delhi HC said, “We uphold the validity of (TRAI’s) regulation”, adding, “There is no dispute about the power of TRAI to make regulation under section 36 of the Act. The impugned regulation has been made in exercise of the power conferred under the Act, keeping in mind the paramount interest of the consumer,”

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) are obviously disappointed. Last year, they had claimed that TRAI’s solution for call drops (Re 1 /call drop) will bleed them by Rs 54,000 crore, and they had even threatened to increase mobile tariffs.

It seems COAI will now move to Supreme Court challenging the order.

Rajan Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said, “We’re disappointed with the order, we will have to see the details of the order to take a call on filing an appeal (in the Supreme Court),”

Some telecom companies have termed this order from TRAI as ‘knee-jerk’ reaction, and “arbitrary and whimsical”, as they contended that this order cannot be practically implemented.

This looks like precisely the reason why Government has been so silent on matters pertaining to access of data from biggies like Nokia, RIM, Apple and others. They made a big hue & cry about it earlier last year, but everything went silent and no action was taken after threatening the likes of RIM & […]

This looks like precisely the reason why Government has been so silent on matters pertaining to access of data from biggies like Nokia, RIM, Apple and others. They made a big hue & cry about it earlier last year, but everything went silent and no action was taken after threatening the likes of RIM & Nokia.

The real reason seems that these telecom & software companies may have made a secret tie-up. And if the hacker group and leaked memo documents are to be believed, Indian Government Agencies already have full access to all your communication on mobile.

According to a memo leaked by hacker group called – The Lords of Dharmaraja - few days back (which was earlier posted on pastebin, but later was removed), who had hacked into Indian Military Intelligence servers, clearly gives details of the API specifications as well as the memo document.

Hacker’s post which is still available on Google Cache

If you see, in the first para of the memo, it is clearly stated that the agreement was signed with these mobile manufacturers in exchange of Indian Market presence and the last para of the memo states that the security agencies (MI and CBI) are satisfied with the results of RINOA SUR platform (RINOA stands for RIM, Nokia and Apple). See the highlighted text in images.

According to this slashdost post,

The Indian government "utilized backdoors provided by RINOA" to intercept internal emails of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a U.S. government body with a mandate to monitor, investigate and report to Congress on ‘the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship’ between the U.S. and China

The big question here is – What about privacy? Is this ethical? and more so what can the Blackberry, Nokia or Apple users do about it?

Internet usage in India has not penetrated as much as it has in China. This despite various measures by Indian Government from low cost PCs to increasing competition among Telco’s. Lets’ draw a few comparisons between India and China to understand this better.

Internet usage in India has not penetrated as much as it has in China. This despite various measures by Indian Government from low cost PCs to increasing competition among Telco’s. Lets’ draw a few comparisons between India and China to understand this better.

Parameters

INDIA

CHINA

Median Age

26 yrs

35 yrs

Wireless Users (June’2010E)

617.5 mil

800 mil

Wireless Internet Users

50 mil

277 mil

PC Internet Users

31 mil

143 mil

Total Internet Users

81 mil

420 mil

Literacy level

66%

93%

Major local Languages

~27

~4

Broadband

>256 kbps

>1 Mbps

Broadband Internet price

>$5/month

>$10/month

One could argue that literacy and huge diversity are hampering India’s Internet growth compared to China. My point however, is that Indian users have overcome these issues in the past. The proliferation of mobile phones is one such case. Today users use mobile phones for a diverse range of functionalities from calling, SMS to more sophisticated ones like Bluetooth File transfers & Internet browsing.

We all know that bulk of pictures and other entertainment content is still transferred through Bluetooth. One such transfer typically required 12-15 steps. SMS is another example which is popular among users from different cultures and regions. On the contrary Telecenters were nowhere near as successful.

To me above examples prove that if sufficient motivation is there Indian consumers can adapt complex technologies as well despite their low literacy and huge diversity.

Other reason could be a relatively low level of income in India. However, as per a latest report from businessworld.in, high income households in India now have outnumbered the poor income household for the first time. Based on this, if we say that 50% of Indians (about 500 mill.) are middle or rich class even then a total of 81 million Internet users are too low!

So the question remains why does India lags so far behind China in Internet usage? Is it lack of marketing campaigns like celebrity endorsing Internet usage among Indians? Or do we not have enough local websites to attract the mass-Indian consumers?

In my opinion users are yet to perceive the value for Internet. The reason could be lack of appealing content for Indian users. Even though we have huge number of Indians on Facebook, YouTube and twitter yet it seems that these social networking portals are not enough for proliferation of Internet in India.

China for example has alternates like- Baidu.com, QQ.com and Renren.com to almost all major global-websites. These local websites are very popular among Chinese internet users. May be time has come for telcos and content builders to develop more India centric websites, portals, and mobile-apps and market these effectively to generate a wave of demand for Internet in India.

Bharti – Zain deal is sealed, the 10.3 billion dollar deal leapfrogs the largest Telecom provider in India, Bharti, to the top 5 in the world. Before this deal they were placed at 10th amongst the top telecom companies in the world. Here are top Telecom Companies in the World: Top 15 Telecom Companies in […]

Bharti – Zain deal is sealed, the 10.3 billion dollar deal leapfrogs the largest Telecom provider in India, Bharti, to the top 5 in the world. Before this deal they were placed at 10th amongst the top telecom companies in the world.

Here are top Telecom Companies in the World:

Top 15 Telecom Companies in World

Rank

Company Name

Subscribers

1

China Mobile

522 Mln

2

Vodafone Group

333 Mln

3

Telefonica

202 Mln

4

AmericaMovil

201 Mln

5

Telenor Group

172 Mln

6

Deutsche Telecom

151 Mln

7

China Unicom

148 Mln

8

TeliaSonera

148 Mln

9

France Telecom

133 Mln

10

Bharti Airtel

125 Mln

11

MTN Group

116 Mln

12

Mobile Telesystems

102 Mln

13

Reliance Communications

100 Mln

14

Orascom Telecom

93 Mln

15

AT&T

85 Mln

These figures are based as of end- February 2010.

If you add Zain’s 42 Million subscribers in 15 African countries now coming under Bharti’s Umbrella – The Total Subscriber base of Bharti Airtel goes to 167 million Subscribers, which puts it firmly in 5th position

We also have Reliance Communication which just celebrated the 100 millionth connection and is placed at 13th position !

Also, with the kind of growth Indian Telecom Industry is witnessing, I see Bharti coming in top 3 position probably by end of this year.

Atleast that what Sachin Pilot, the young Minister of State for Telecommunications and Information Technology thinks. Here is a statement he has made: “With the advent of mobile technology, it has made India leapfrog into a country with a 51 per cent teledensity and made call rates come down to the lowest in the world […]

Atleast that what Sachin Pilot, the young Minister of State for Telecommunications and Information Technology thinks.

Here is a statement he has made:

“With the advent of mobile technology, it has made India leapfrog into a country with a 51 per cent teledensity and made call rates come down to the lowest in the world — they are between one or two cents a minute. The call rates are so cheap that a lot of telecom companies keep complaining how they are bleeding and how they are in the red. I think the day is not far away when call charges will be free and people will have to make money on data transfer.

It’s just an assumption, but that’s the way it’s headed. But it’s certainly the next phase of demands that the Indian telecom consumers are making and most certainly the way the telecom operators are looking at in the future.”

What is your take on this? Will Indian Telecom companies be able to survive without charging for voice calls. I seriously have doubts. Even though call rates are so low, it is a volume game and that is where Telecom companies still have majority of their earnings. Yes, over next few years, data transfer & other VAS will bring good amount of money into the kitty, but still telecom companies cannot offer free calls !

Have you wondered who are the best paying companies in India. I was always under the impression that the top paymaster in India would be one of the IT companies, but that’s not so – It is one of the telecom companies. And if you look at the average salary, you will be actually surprised. […]

Have you wondered who are the best paying companies in India. I was always under the impression that the top paymaster in India would be one of the IT companies, but that’s not so – It is one of the telecom companies.

And if you look at the average salary, you will be actually surprised. According to the SundayET survey, the tag of India’s top paymaster goes to – Bharti Airtel – currently the biggest telecom company in India. Surprisingly, even with the global recession last year, the average salaries saw a rise of more than 10% for Bharti (some companies on the list like Nalco have close seen close to 30% rise in average salaries)

What I found very surprising was the number of PSU’s on this list – I was under the impression that these guys pay much lesser than private companies, but that’s not so.

An the space I thought would dominate the list – Information Technology – actually has only 2 companies in top 10 list.

With the break neck competition we are seeing in the telecom space, and alarming fall of call rates, the profits are going to be pretty squeezed up in coming days. It would be very difficult to hold on to that tag !

Coming back to current situation – Here are the top 10 paymasters in India.

Telecom sector has been the talk of the town ever since DOCOMO created a stir with its per second billing. What followed was a continuous barrage of price wars among the competitors with Reliance heading the pack. Eventually TRAI made it mandatory for all telecom operators to restructure the pricing structure and switch to per […]

Telecom sector has been the talk of the town ever since DOCOMO created a stir with its per second billing. What followed was a continuous barrage of price wars among the competitors with Reliance heading the pack. Eventually TRAI made it mandatory for all telecom operators to restructure the pricing structure and switch to per second billing tariff plans. This sent shockwaves amongst the market players with industry analysts pegging the revenue losses of the telecom operators in billions.

The number portability is another path breaking initiative from TRAI which is going to change the way the telecommunication sector operates. In all its simplicity , number portability will allow customers to switch to any network of their choice without losing out on the phone numbers. Changing phone numbers is a major pain that we all face in today’s time and hence, even if we are not happy with the existing service provider we have to stick to them. Number portability is going to change that putting the customer at ease to choose the best.

One aspect of the number portability scheme subjected to a lot of speculation was the fee to switch service providers. There were talks that the estimated charge to avail number portability could be around Rs. 300 with chances of it going down to Rs. 200. Â However, TRAI wanted to ensure that the customer is not over burdened by the fee and and should it negatively influence his/her decision , the scheme would not hold any water.

TRAI has laid all the speculation to rest and announced the maximum fee that the subscriber needs to pay in order to avail number portability. Any guesses of what the fee is?

The fee to switch networks has been fixed at a maximum of Rs.19 . Yes, you are reading it right and there is no typing mistake here. TRAI has made it super easy for the subscriber to make a decision on whether to switch to number portability or not.

The subscriber now only needs to make up his mind of which provider is offering the best price and the best tariff plans.The services providers are though free to levy charges below or equal to the maximum prescribed fee.

The marginal fee is a step in the right direction and should raise the bar for service providers. It will be difficult to hold onto to customers until the service providers continue to maintain and impart high quality of service. The fear of losing subscribers should keep the service providers on their toes to continuously better themselves.

The new entrants like TELENOR could benefit hugely by Mobile Number Portability if they can better the existing service providers in quality and pricing.

Are you eagerly awaiting the chance to switch your existing service provider? With the fees to switch virtually nil , Mobile Number Portability might just be a hit with the masses and probably spell doom to companies NOT offering up to the mark services.

]]>https://trak.in/tags/business/2009/11/21/trai-fixes-the-fee-for-number-portability/feed/173522Local Calls 10 paise and STD at 25 Paise – A Raja asks Telecom Companieshttps://trak.in/tags/business/2009/11/03/indian-telecom-call-rates-10-paise-std-25p/
https://trak.in/tags/business/2009/11/03/indian-telecom-call-rates-10-paise-std-25p/#commentsTue, 03 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000http://trak.in/tags/business/2009/11/03/indian-telecom-call-rates-10-paise-std-25p/I had really thought that Indian Telecom companies are digging their grave by slashing their rates to bare minimum and offering schemes like one second billing to keep their share in Indian Telecom pie But here is something that has surprised me no end – According to Indian Telecom Minister A. Raja, the rates of […]

]]>I had really thought that Indian Telecom companies are digging their grave by slashing their rates to bare minimum and offering schemes like one second billing to keep their share in Indian Telecom pie

But here is something that has surprised me no end – According to Indian Telecom Minister A. Raja, the rates of telephony need to come down further – Infact so low that local calls should be charged at 10 paise per minute and STD calls at 25 paise per minute. He thinks its very much possible.

“I have requested all operators to reduce the termination charge by 2010, and this will help to lower the tariffs further. Local call charges can come down to as low as 10 paise a minute and STD charges to just 25 paise, if this happens.” The termination charge is the levy paid by one operator to another on whose network the call ends.

Mr. Raja said operators were also asked to make optimum use of the Universal Service Obligation Fund to build telecom infrastructure in rural areas. The Centre was further simplifying the rules for the operators to get money from the Fund to boost rural telephony. The Fund has more than Rs.16,000 crore collected from all operators.

India already has lowest mobile call rates in the world and cutting them further nearly 5 times – Local calls at 10 paise per minute !!!! beats me ! speak on your mobile for half hour and you end up paying 3 rupees…

Diwali went well. We might have contributed to the global warming in a significant way, but who is checking? Muhurat trading went very well with Sensex regaining 9000 levels. That is the good news. Though it is not the topic of this discussion. Bharti Airtel has entered the elite club of top telecom companies. It […]

Diwali went well. We might have contributed to the global warming in a significant way, but who is checking? Muhurat trading went very well with Sensex regaining 9000 levels. That is the good news. Though it is not the topic of this discussion. Bharti Airtel has entered the elite club of top telecom companies. It is at number 25. It is the only Indian company in the list. Britain’s Vodafone which recently acquired Hutch is at number 1.

The study conducted by UK based brand valuation firm Brand Finance Plc, uses a methodology called “royalty relief”. This takes into account several factors mixed up to come up with the brand value of the company. Brand value is not tangible. If it has to go by number of subscribers alone at least 3 Indian companies would be featuring in the list.

India has crossed 300 million subscribers at the end of September. That number is pretty close to the population of United States. India is second in terms of number of subscribers only next to China which has 616 million subscribers. So, it would not be a wonder that Indian telecom providers might have more subscribers than most of theÂ global telecom giants on the list of 25. Airtel has 75 million subscribers, Reliance has 55 million subscribers and BSNL has 38 million subscribers.

Since brand value is measured on a global scale, only one Indian company on the list is justified.Â None of our telecom providers have global presence. Airtel is setting up its shop in Sri Lanka with the help of IBM. Reliance pursued South Africa’s MTN which wouldÂ have been a gateway to Africa for Indian telecom. Thanks to family feuds that did not go through. Airtel is rumored to be pursuing MTN kind of deal to expand its global footprint. Lack of global presence is the main reason for a lesser brand value.

I still agree with what came out of the report. Airtel, to me is a better brand compared with Reliance or Hutch (now Vodafone). I had my share of frustrations with both Reliance and Hutch, but not with Airtel. Reliance might not be behind for very long. Reliance has acquired its GSM license and is rolling out the operations swiftly. It is only a matter of time Reliance will overtake Airtel to become the top company in India. Airtel to keep or improve its brand value should innovate with mobile services and also expand into overseas markets. Airtel should grow both organically and inorganically (through acquisitions). It is clear that Reliance cannot grow inorganically. That would be Airtel’s strength. If only it can capitalize on it. Reliance will be on the next list.

Do you think Airtel’s brand value is justified? Do you think Reliance or any other telecom company should be on that list?

]]>https://trak.in/tags/business/2008/10/28/airtel-enters-the-elite-club-of-top-25-telecom-companies/feed/91465TRAI gives broadband some meaning, finally!https://trak.in/tags/business/2008/01/02/indian-broadband-internet-connection-trai-directive/
https://trak.in/tags/business/2008/01/02/indian-broadband-internet-connection-trai-directive/#commentsWed, 02 Jan 2008 12:21:12 +0000http://trak.in/tags/business/2008/01/02/indian-broadband-internet-connection-trai-directive/Having broadband in India is like having speeds of poor dial-up connection. You can never do anything else other than browsing (that too is pretty frustrating) - seeing video clips or listening to streaming music is next to impossible.

]]>Having broadband in India is like having speeds of poor dial-up connection. You can never do anything else other than browsing (that too is pretty frustrating) – seeing video clips or listening to streaming music is next to impossible.

How can ISP’s term these kinds of connections as broadband?

It’s simple! They have tiny letters saying “upto” before 256kbps. That means they can give speeds less than 256!

Given the increased public resentment over slow speed connection TRAI has put the right foot forward by issuing a directive to ISPs.

Responding to complaints from harassed consumers who are offered “broadband” at speeds much slower than those stipulated by the government, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has taken a tough call.

It has written to operators saying they can no longer advertise broadband services that say they offer “up to” 256 kbps speeds, thereby circumventing the rules by offering services at far lower speeds.

Instead, Trai has directed all operators to clearly mention the minimum guaranteed download speeds in various packages. The regulator said operators have promised to abide by the new direction.

Meanwhile, the regulator has also mooted a discussion paper, which was released today, on whether the present level of 256 kbps defined as the minimum speed for a broadband connection should be raised to bring it on a par with international standards.